1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a shielded connector structure which includes a pair of connectors each having a conductive shield shell covering a connector housing which accommodates a metal terminal element, and a conductive connector mounting portion, and in which a shield shell that is grounded at the connector mounting portion to discharge a noise.
2. Background Art
Various electronic apparatuses are mounted in a mobile vehicular body configured as an automobile. Therefore, wire harnesses are prepared and installed in order to supply electric power and signals to the electronic apparatuses on the automobile. These wire harnesses includes multiple electric wires and connectors attached to the wires.
A three-phase electric motor may be employed as a driving motor in the above-mentioned automobile such as an electric car, a hybrid car and a fuel-cell vehicle. Since high voltages are normally supplied for this type of motor, there are problems that external leakage of electrical noise originating at a metal terminal element provided on a power supply terminal occurs, or that such noise flows from one such terminal metal element to another.
As a technique for resolving this problem, use of a shielded connector (see, for example, patent document 1) has been proposed. The shielded connector includes: an insulated connector housing which is formed of a terminal container that contains a metal terminal element and an outer housing that is located outside the terminal container; a conductive inner shield shell which covers the terminal container; and a conductive outer shield shell which is formed separately from the inner shield shell and covers the outer housing while contacting the inner shield shell. One end of the inner shield shell and one end of the outer shield shell are grounded.
A mating shielded connector which is to engage the shielded connector is formed, for example, of: an insulating connector housing which includes a terminal container that accommodates a metal terminal element, and a conductive shield shell that covers another connector housing. Then, when the two shielded connectors are engaged, the conductive shield shell and the inner shield shell are connected electrically. Thus, electrical noise originating at the terminal fitting, which could be leaked externally or could enter the shield shell interior, is altered to provide a return current that flows from the shield shell of the second shielded connector to the inner shield shell of the shielded connector. Thereafter, the return current is either discharged from the inner shield shell, or flows from the inner shield shell to the outer shield shell and to be finally discharged.
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2006-310164
As described above, since part of the electrical noise is flowed from the shield shell of the mating shielded connector to the inner shield shell of the shielded connector and to the outer shield shell and is discharged externally, the path from the shield shell to the outer shell is extended. Accordingly, because of electric resistance along the path, the free flow of the return current is impeded and the electrical noise can not be appropriately discharged.